Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library Reader Advisory Blog: the emperor of all maladies

Few literary awards are as well-known as the coveted Pulitzer Prize. These are winners of the recently-announced 2011 Pulitzer Prizes in the letters and drama categories:

Fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
General nonfiction: The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
History: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner
Biography: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
Poetry: The Best of It: New and Selected Poems by Kay Ryan

Many of these titles have been featured in previous "best of" lists on this blog, so take this post as your reminder to check out these library books and treat yourself to some high-quality writing.

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Rating: 5 out of 5

"Being Mortal is about the limitations of what modern medicine can provide for people as their lives draw to a close. Gawande argues that the objective of medicine should not merely be treatment and survival; medical care should also ensure dignity in death and having control over one's final moments. He argues that instead of aggressively fighting the inescapable realities of aging, we should ask the hard questions of ourselves and our loved ones -- What makes life worth living? When should we try to extend our lives, and when should we choose a better quality of our remaining days over extending their quantity?

This book is difficult to read. Not because of the way Gawande writes -- his style is highly engaging, and he never lapses into excessively scientific jargon or overly simplistic explanations -- but because of the tough subject matter. Gawande draws on his own experiences as a doctor and peppers his book with honest and humane stories of his patients, friends, and family; the stories he tells make the book more accessible, and also more heartbreaking. (And that's not a bad thing.)

No one likes to think about their loved ones', or their own, impending mortality. But it's important to have these hard conversations, because as Gawande says, "endings matter." - Amanda

Pulitzer Prize Winners

Tuscon Festival of Books